School fires coach in child porn case

He grew up in South Florida, lived in Plantation and trained hundreds of young swimmers at Broward schools and clubs.

One day after learning federal prosecutors charged a Pine Crest School swim coach with possessing child pornography, those who knew Roberto Caragol said they never suspected the man they saw as a devoted and outgoing mentor could have been a predator.

On Thursday, Caragol's fellow swim coaches ousted him as chairman of the Florida Gold Coast Board of Directors.

That wasn't the only thing stripped from Caragol, 35, in the aftermath of federal prosecutors saying he confessed to trading hundreds of pornographic images of young boys via e-mail and having sex with children younger than 18 dating to 2001.

Pine Crest fired Caragol on Thursday and his name disappeared from the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School Web site, where he had been listed as a record holder in the 400 meter freestyle relay. A coincidence, said school communications director Ricardo Raimundez.

Meanwhile, authorities said they had not received any new leads about possible victims since announcing the charge Wednesday.

"None of the children have any bad things to say about Robert," said Joe DeVenuto, a swimming official whose daughter Siena swims for Pine Crest. "We asked them all. Not one thing ever happened. No touching."

Caragol didn't approach students for any reason other than swimming, DeVenuto said.

Investigators confronted Caragol in October after receiving information that his e-mail address was used to transmit four pornographic images of young boys.

Caragol denied the allegations but turned over his laptop computer. A search uncovered about 40 illicit images, the complaint states.

In an interview with an FBI special agent Tuesday, Caragol admitted he had sent, received or possessed at least a couple hundred images of young boys, authorities said. Caragol told the agent he was not "presently engaging" in sex with minors, but had had sexual contact with children younger than 18.

Pine Crest administrators suspended Caragol on Wednesday. A day later they fired him.

"This decision was based on the criminal complaint filed in federal court by the United States Attorney's Office against Mr. Caragol," school administrators said.

Caragol, who has no prior arrest record, is being held at Miami's Federal Detention Center pending a bail hearing Monday.

Caragol was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, and moved to South Florida when he was 8. Both his parents died before he turned 18.

He graduated from Belen Jesuit in 1991 and returned to the school in 1997 to teach Spanish and coach swimming.